


Unbreakable

by erasersmic



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25037980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erasersmic/pseuds/erasersmic
Summary: Leo Valdez didn't like getting involved with his dads side of the family. Things got complicated, there were wars and feuds. He kept to himself, did his own thing. Until he was ten years old. On a trip to New York with his foster family at the time, he acquired the Adamantine Sickle, a weapon wielded by Kronos. He didn't know what or whos it was so he took it, which is now coming back to bite him. At 15 him, the boy he found in a jar, and two Camp Half-Blood runaways have to journey across the country and acquire everything needed to destroy the sickle before Gaea is meant to rise or the world could be ripped apart.
Relationships: Connor Stoll & Leo Valdez, Drew Tanaka & Connor Stoll, Leo Valdez & Drew Tanaka, Nico di Angelo & Connor Stoll, Nico di Angelo & Drew Tanaka, Nico di Angelo/Leo Valdez
Kudos: 28
Collections: PJO/HOO Big Bang 2020





	Unbreakable

**Author's Note:**

> shout out to the artists ( @kitshunette / @cosmic-pindrops / @kelbodreams on tumblr ) and betas ( @galwaygremlin / @nlieco ) who helped with this fic! they worked really hard and did a good job! i will put their art in the fic when the chapter comes, but they also posted it on their tumblrs so go check them out

New York and Texas were so unbelievably different. Of course, Leo already knew that, but actually seeing it with his own eyes was different. His current foster family, his 5th foster family, had decided to take a vacation to New York over the summer. For once, the family had decided to take him with them. 

There was one downside to the trip: New York, specifically Manhattan, was currently riddled with storms. Not slightly windy and sprinkling storms, but full-on pouring rain and wind that shook buildings. The family’s biological kids, a 10-year-old named Danny and a 7-year-old named Drew, were bummed that they couldn’t do as much sightseeing. The family planned to go to the Empire State Building today, but that was where the worst of the storms were.

So 11-year-old Leo Valdez sat in his own bed, in a hotel room in Manhattan, in a terrible storm. He couldn’t sleep and the storm sure wasn’t helping, neither was the feeling Leo had had in his stomach for the last two hours. It felt like something was pulling at him, trying to drag him out of bed.

Finally getting tired of just laying down, Leo decided to get up and try to use the bathroom, and that’s when he heard it.

A shout. Not a shout for help, but a shout that sounded like physical fighting. He wasn’t sure how he heard it over the thunder, he had to have been hearing things.

But then he heard it again and he had to check it out. Was it probably a terrible idea to leave in this weather? Of course, it was, but when listing things Leo Valdez was known to have, good ideas were not on it. He slipped on his shoes and opened the door as quietly as he could. Thunder boomed and, immediately following it, he heard the noise again, so he went in the direction he thought it was coming from.

It was odd to him because the noise was coming from the direction of the Empire State Building, and he would think that there would be more cops in this area. He pushed that thought out of his mind and kept going. The shouting was bringing him closer and closer to the Empire State Building until there he was, at the base of the 1,454-foot building, staring down at some weird sort of curved knife.

Leo reached out and grabbed it. For a moment, he felt like he’d been electrocuted. It was jarring. 

He heard the shouting again, but this time, it was all around him, but it felt so close as if Leo were to turn around the source might be right behind him. It was like someone was watching him. Slowly, he turned around and saw a man across the street. He had long hair and a beard, he was wearing a full suit, and the rain was bending around him so that he would stay dry as though he was controlling it. The man took a step into the crosswalk. For the second time in his life, Leo was pretty sure he was dead. All Leo wanted right now was to be back in his hotel room, curled up in bed like he was before. Maybe then he wouldn’t be seconds away from being kidnapped. He didn’t want to become another big city statistic.

That’s when he felt it, the slight tug in his stomach. He felt cold, which was a weird sensation for a kid who could rarely be cold. The best way to describe it was like when you start falling in a dream, and right before you hit the ground you wake up, covered in sweat and shaking. Except, Leo felt that and then was back in his hotel room, soaking wet from the rain. The shaking was still there though, and the only thing that made him think it was real was the curved knife in his hand.

Sitting there, Leo realized it didn’t matter if he knew it was real. He was 10. No one would believe that had happened to him. He thought back to the countless other weird things that had happened in his life and remembered being told that it was just his overactive imagination.

Alas, Leo was exhausted, and for the first time all night, he was able to sleep.

\-----

The family had been on the road for hours and Leo felt like he was going to explode in the backseat. He was sitting in the very back by himself, with Danny and Drew sitting in the middle. It made sense for him not to have the extra seat between the two boys, it gave all of them more space. That didn’t mean it wasn’t less boring for Leo, who didn’t really get to talk to them because the other kids wouldn’t turn around.

The parents needed to stop at a gas station to fill up the car and all of them were getting hungry. Leo was the last out of the car, but he didn’t make it into the store. He looked over towards the side and froze.

Sitting at one of the tables outside the restaurant connected to the gas station was his Tía Callida. She looked exactly like he remembered her. 

Very suddenly she looked up at him and patted the seat next to her, inviting him to come and sit with her. Was it an amazing idea to actually go over there? No, but part of him missed the familiarity. The family he lived with now was okay, but he never had ties anywhere, he never saw familiar faces.

"What are you doing here?" Leo asked, sitting down and swinging his legs back and forth.

"Oh, just visiting." It was a simple reply and she didn't elaborate on what she was waiting for. She opened her purse and pulled out a baggy with some pretzels and a bottle of water. Tía Callida placed them in front of him and motioned for him to eat. 

He opened the baggy and started to eat. "Who are you waiting for?"

"My husband, we're meant to get something that we lost." The look she was giving him creeped Leo out. He opened the water and took a drink.

"What did you lose?" That was something Leo didn't miss about her, she tended to be very vague about everything like she wanted him to figure out what she was talking about. 

"My husband dropped an old family heirloom he got from his father. Now the whole family is fighting about it." She looked around and then down at the watch around her wrist. 

Leo heard a vehicle come up behind him and turned to see a jet black sports car in the parking spot behind his chair. 

"That's not him, he's not a fan of newer cars. He thinks they're distasteful." Leo thought the car was cool, but most kids think sports cars are cool at 10.

Leo felt tired suddenly and his body felt heavy. 

"Are you okay, Leo?" Tía Callida asked. Leo just shook his head. He remembered when she was his babysitter that she hated when he didn't respond out loud but he didn't really care right now. He felt like he was going to pass out.

Leo's eyes were drooping when he felt an arm on his hand, tugging on him. He looked up at Tía Callida and she smiled at him.

"I think you can help me find what my husband and I lost." She was confusing Leo. Her smile was friendly but her voice sounded cold. He also didn't understand how he could help her; he hasn't seen her in years, he didn't even know she was married.

All he did was shake his head and watch as she started to collect her things off the table.

"You have something that belongs to us, something you're not meant to have." Maybe if he was less tired he would know what she was talking about, but that was not the case. "You're meant for better things, Leo Valdez." 

She grabbed her purse and Leo's hand, pulling him up off the bench. Leo was dazed and confused, part of him wanted to pull away, but it felt like something was telling him not to.

He barely even registered the voice of his foster mother, but the way Tía Callida started squeezing his hand helped. 

"Let go of him!" She exclaimed, running over and grabbing Leo's other hand. It was easy to get him back considering he was too tired to fight anyone. 

The next part of their conversation was a blur. He heard something about cops and thieves, but it was all so fast. Next thing we knew, he was getting back in the car and falling asleep.

\-----

To say Leo's foster mother was furious about the situation at the gas station was an understatement. Seven days of tension in the car was enough to tell him that. 

In their eyes, Leo was 10 and should know not to walk off with strangers. Of course, he tried to explain that she wasn't a stranger, but no one particularly believed him. After the incident, the two parents did quite a bit more arguing about whether or not Leo was more trouble than he was worth. 

Apparently he was.


End file.
